The Gabem Umbrella Companies Blog:
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29th August 2008: Looking back over 7 years and dispensations
I'll have been with Gabem 7 years on Monday, and whilst it may not be a landmark within Gabem (55% of the company have been here over 5 years, and 19.5% having been here over 7), it's not bad for, as The Times would call us, a small company (we were number 26 in The times best small companies to work for 2007).
During those 7 years we've seen different payroll systems come and go (composite companies became single person companies which became umbrella companies), and through each change we've learned our lessons, taken our knocks, and had better advice (since 2006 our accountants have been one of the global Big Four). This all takes us to where we are now, one of the largest umbrella company providers in the UK and, in our view and those of our advisors, completely compliant. This has taken a lot of hard work but we are proud of the services we provide our customers.
7 years has seen the market explode from perhaps 9 limited company payroll providers to estimates in the region of 130 this year. This year I've even seen one company that for around £17000 will set you up with an almost DIY start your own umbrella company payroll kit.
So aside from this personal retrospective what am I getting at? It's probably a gripe you've heard from me before (but I'm getting old so humour me): The industry needs some regulation, agreed standards that are policed so that way you can feel more confident about your tax situation, and we can relax a bit knowing we are a recognised and accepted industry.
The government is putting expenses under the spotlight again as you may have heard (as you may have seen on the front page). We welcome greater transparency in the market but are irked as the continual focus on Umbrella Companies is in part driven by the abuse of expense dispensations by some of our more unscrupulous competitors whilst simultaneously claiming "approved" status. If you see any companies saying they are "HMRC approved" or "100% HMRC approved", I would encourage you to call HMRC and find out how many companies they have actually approved (you can mouse over the answer here if you don't feel like calling).
Have a great weekend and as always if you want to get in touch you can here.
Hugo
29/08/2008
